Page 53 - EducationWorld March 2023

Accountancy, Chartered Financial Sequoia Capital initiative to inspire
Institute and Global Association of women in India and South-east Asia
Risk Professionals. to become entrepreneurs.
In the past 12 years, Miles Ed has ESA’s flagship programme is
established offices in Dubai, New a seven-levels (52-week) online
York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Delhi, programme. It comprises one online
Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Chennai class every week with subscriber
among other cities worldwide. It has children given access to global case
also signed agreements with over 70 studies and the ESA learning plat-
universities and autonomous col- form. To date, 35,000 children in 47
leges in India and the US, and part- countries have signed up with ESA.
nered with over 220 multinational Newspeg. Last November Biswas
corporates to train their employees. signed several collaboration agree-
To date, Miles Ed has upskilled over ments with primary-secondaries in
40,000 youth worldwide. the UAE and India to “introduce the
Newspeg. Last August, Miles Ed early steps way of learning 21st cen-
launched its Pathway to Work initia- tury subjects and skills. Unlike our
tive in the US for its first cohort of 27 flagship programme, this initiative
CPA certified professionals. Jain: accounting services hub goal involves self-learning and teacher
History. A commerce graduate of the assisted modules for several subjects
Indian Institute of Management & of finance and accounting talent, we and skills,” says Biswas.
Commerce, Hyderabad, Jain began can strive to become the world’s best History. An engineering and business
his career in 2006 at Deloitte, Hy- back and front office for accounting management alumna of IIT-Kharag-
derabad. services as well,” says Jain. pur and the blue-chip Harvard
That very year, Jain emplaned Future plans. Looking ahead, Jain Business School (USA), Jamshedpur-
for the US to write the AICPA’s CPA believes that the world is his oyster. born Biswas began her academic
exams and qualified as a Certified “Currently there is a huge shortage career by tutoring IIT-JEE aspirants
Public Accountant. The CPA certi- of accountants in the US with close in Jamshedpur (2006-2007). This
fication fetched him a high-profile to 60,000 job openings for certi- was followed by a three-month stint
job as an investment banker with fied CPAs. Seizing this opportunity, with the famous Teach for India,
Morgan Stanley, Mumbai. When the I intend to focus on training ac- Mumbai.
company issued a transfer order to counting professionals for the CPA In 2011, she was campus recruited
the London office in 2009, Jain put programme. My target is to train and by oil and gas major Schlumberger
in his papers to transform into an certify 100,000 CPA professionals Ltd. Posted in this giant multina-
agent of change in India. over the next five years,” says Jain. tional’s international offices, she ac-
Two years later after researching Paromita Sengupta (Bengaluru)
and designing curriculum content, Biswas: supplementary global curriculum
ME was registered. Its mission is to Go-getting
Make an Impact, promote Leader-
ship and teamwork and Excel in the
Services (Miles) it provides. In 2016 edupreneur
Jain signed up for Harvard Business
School’s senior executive leadership NEHA BISWAS is founder-
program. CEO of the Bengaluru-based
Direct talk. “There is huge demand SEarly Steps Academy Pvt. Ltd
for CPAs in India. Already un- (ESA, estb.2021). ESA is an ambi-
imaginable accounting work is being tious education start-up that offers
outsourced to India from around the a unique after-school online pro-
world. The objective of Miles Ed is gramme modeled on Harvard-style
to build a talent supply chain and case studies to children in the 8-18
transform India into a powerhouse years age group worldwide.
for finance & accounting profession- Backed by marquee global inves-
als. Currently, India is known as the tors including Beenext (Singapore)
world’s best back office for IT servic- and Taurus Ventures (US), ESA is
es. By tapping into India’s huge pool also a Sequoia Spark company — a

MARCH 2023 EDUCATIONWORLD 55